Norm Andrzejewski honored for helping victims of Hurricane Katrina

Tuesday, April 07, 2009

By Dave Tobin

Staff writer

Forty years ago, Norm Andrzejewski and his young family
lived a year in New Orleans and made lasting friends. When
Hurricane Katrina hit in 2005, Andrzejewski checked on old
friends there and decided to "do more than send
somebody a check."

He rallied 13 friends from Central New York who drove to
Louisiana and spent a week mucking and rebuilding a house.

Nineteen trips and nearly 200 houses later - some
repaired, some built from scratch - Andrzejewski is still
traveling to Louisiana, leading a volunteer organization
that builds relationships and repairs lives as much as it
repairs and builds houses.

For his work starting and leading Operation Southern
Comfort, Andrzejewski is a 2009 Post-Standard Achievement
Award winner.

A former area administrator for the New York State
Department of Health, Andrzejewski, 68, leads in a way that
gives volunteers autonomy while holding them to high
standards. He is an anti-bureaucrat, leading and inspiring
by example, said Chuck Seereiter, a former state health
department colleague.

"He puts himself out there in the forefront, defines
the task and asks people to step up, based on his
willingness to step up," Seereiter said.
"Everything he does is selfless."

From the start, Andrzejewski organized things in a way that
minimized expense and red tape. He put Operation Southern
Comfort under the organizational umbrella of St. Joseph the
Worker Church in Liverpool to minimize administration costs,
and he arranged trips using churches of all denominations
for meals and overnight stays.

The affiliation with St. Joseph the Worker helped the
organization with its first grant, $40,000 from Catholic
Charities USA.